The United Kingdom will impose a £3,000 deposit for visa-seekers from Bangladesh and six other Asian and African countries.
“Sunday Times” says that under the pilot scheme, visa-seekers from Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nigeria, Ghana and Kenya will have to pay the £3,000 cash guarantee alongwith their visa application.
The amount will be confiscated if stay extends beyond the permitted duration, it said.
The British Home Office feels these seven countries posed ‘the most significant risk of visa abuse’, Indian daily The Hindu reported.
It cited Britain’s Home Secretary Theresa May as saying that her government’s policy was to make the immigration system ‘more selective’.
“This is the next step in making sure our immigration system is more selective, bringing down net migration from the hundreds of thousands to tens of thousands while still welcoming the brightest and the best to Britain … In the long run, we are interested in a system of bonds that deters overstaying and recovers costs if a foreign national has used our public services,” she said
However, the cash deposit will not ensure a visa. It would require fulfilling other requirements for it.
Last year, 296,000 Indians, 101,000 Nigerians, 53,000 Pakistanis, 14,000 Bangladeshis and 14,000 Sri Lankans were allowed six-month tourist visas.
The British Home Office did not specify how many of them had stayed on illegally.
But the growing feeling amongst its migrants is that the one-time imperial power is desperate to keep the country’s color ‘white’ and prevent the black and the brown from growing in numbers.
Sunday Times report said the cash deposit will be taken from all visa applicants including those applying for student and work visas.
If found effective, the system will be regularised and made permanent, perhaps extended on visa-seekers from other countries.
However, European, North American and Oceania (Australia and New Zealand) nations will be exempted.
The British government issues almost 2.2 million visas per year.
Many lawmakers, both Labour and Conservative , have earlier recommended a tougher visa regime.
Source: Bd news24
